The guest on Czech Books this week, Tomáš Zmeškal, stunned the Czech
literary world and reading public this autumn with his debut novel,
Milostný Dopis Klínovým Písmem or Love Letter in Cunieform Script. The
book is an unusual kind of love story with a broad historical sweep,
covering the post-war period to the 1990s, and has a very innovative
stylistic approach. After almost unbelievably positive reviews it sold out
immediately and went into a second edition - the sort of "overnight
success" and "literary sensation" most writers must dream
about.

I must say that for an overnight success you had quite a long time to
wait.

"Yes, the book was first finished about four or five years ago and
then I sent it to various Czech publishing houses which deal with
contemporary Czech prose and there wasn't interest in the book at all.
Then
a friend of mine took it to Torst publishing house and they liked it and
they decided to publish it almost immediately."

Professor Bedřich Hrozný on siteAnd thanks mainly to a review by critic Jan Rejžek, who isn't at all
known for his kind reviews. He gave you such an outstanding review,
comparing you to great Czech writers such as Škvorecký and Hrabal and
also to Salman Rushdie, and this was only part of great critical acclaim.
How have you dealt with becoming something of a literary sensation?

"Well I didn't have to deal with it much because I didn't know about
it first of all because the friends I have seem to be very timid and
careful people, very polite, and they didn't want to bother me with that
review because they thought I knew about it, but I didn't. So I was quite
surprised, and then of course Jan Rejžek's review brought a lot of
attention from other reviewers and so so far I'm surprised because the
reviews have been very good - to very very good."

The English translation of the title is Love Letter in Cunieform
Script.
Can you summarise the plot?

"It's about a family; the main characters are Josef and Květa, his
wife,
who meet before the Second World War. During that time the Czech scholar
Bedřich Hrozný deciphered the language of the Hittites, who used to
write
in cuneiform script, so there is a chapter which describes that, and this
is where the title comes from."

“The book covers a period from the end of the second world war to the
1990s and there is a kind of obvious love triangle, two men and one woman,
then the couple get married and their friend, whose love wasn't
appreciated, joins the communists later and uses his position in a way to
break up the marriage of his former friends. Which doesn't succeed
completely but it succeeds to a certain extent to embitter their
relationship.”

And it's written in a very interesting, unusual style or styles. Each
chapter has a different tone, different perspective, and you also include
visionary chapters too. Could you say a little about this stylistic
variety?

“Yes, I wasn't interested in writing a novel in this great 18th or 19th
century tradition where everything has its proper place and when you can
predict what happens in the future so I changed the styles according to
through whose eyes the tale is narrated.”

One of the many perspectives or viewpoints in the book is actually an
Englishman's, or at least an Englishman of Czech origin.

The Czech Christmas tradition of carp killing
"Yes, it is, it's George, or Jiří in Czech, who's a nephew of
someone within the family. And he has Czech parents but is born and
brought
up in London and he arrives in Prague and gets involved in this family
story. He sends letters back home to his sister about the Czechs and he
observes the Czech traditions - some of them seem very funny to him and
some of them very absurd. For example, he sends a letter describing the
Czech Christmas tradition of carp killing. He doesn't know anything about
it and one day he leaves his flat in very late December and suddenly there
are all these people in strange clothes with barrels full of fish and they
are killing these poor animals. So he writes, for example, about this and
says "how can they do that, and how can they eat it even after
that!". And then they all disappear suddenly. And it's like when an
anthroplogist comes on a strange tribe of a different nation."

Yes, I know that can be very traumatic custom for an outside observer
to
witness. But George, or Jiří, is also able to bring a focus on serious
aspects of Czech culture and history.

“He describes, for example, art exhibitions in the Veletržní Palace.
But
the same palace was actually used for the deportation of Jewish citizens
in
the 1940s. And he observes this kind of reversal of fortune and he
actually
serves as a kind of catalyst for the family events. He doesn't know much
what to do with it but he can observe it and describe it, so he's a kind
of
outsider coming inside and then he slowly starts to understand.”

As you're writing about these relationships between various couples
or
triangles over such a long period, it certainly must make some
observations
about the poltiical situation.

“Yes, some Czech readers ask about the view of Czech political history.
I'm personally not really interested in politics as everyday politics. The
hero, Josef, is jailed for about ten years but within the book this period
isn't really described, partly because there are a lot of books that
describe this already and partly because if you want to go into that
period
you would really have to be very historically precise and I didn't want to
write an historical book.”

But I think you've used your own family history to an extent.

Tomáš Zmeškal
“From a personal point of view one of my uncles was jailed for about a
year. He had a small restaurant in Malá Strana under Prague Castle with
his partner. And when the communists got to power they asked him to
voluntarily pass it onto the state and he refused to do that so they
locked
him up for one year, only for a year, he wasn't a political prisoner; they
let him go and they said he could be a manager in his own restaurant. And
he told me when I was a kid - well, the silver cutlery had already been
stolen - so they didn't want to to that. But it triggered in his partner
some psychological illness and in a couple of years he stopped recognising
family and he ended his life in a psychiatric hospital. But, on the other
hand, another uncle was a communist party member, he actually joined the
communist party before the war. So you have certain personal things there
as well. But of course, I was a kid and you only recognise when you
are older the tragedies which are under the surface.”

The general tone of the book is rather a tragic and sad one.

“I suppose so, yes, because that generation, I think that to a certain
extent people still don't know how to deal with them, whether they should
recognise their efforts or not. There is a discussion, but in my opinion
it
doesn't go anywhere and I don't think it will ever go anywhere because the
Czech way to do things is to forget them.”

You spent ten years in London, and amongst other things you studied
English Literature at Kings College, and subsequently taught literature at
Charles University. To what extent do you think you were influenced by
your
very profound knowledge of literature in English?

“Well, I wasn't aware of this until the reviews started. It was a
lasting influence but I didn't know it might be engrained in my literary
views, but it seems that it is. The Czech critics say it and they are
probably right. It has a positive effect probably that it made my book
richer, but also a negative effect because some Czech editors didn't like
it
and said I should rewrite the book because it doesn't sound too Czech.

The Canterbury Tales
"I studied English Literature and I enjoyed it and influences would
be numerous, from Joseph Conrad even to medieval literature. Because as a
writer I think I learnt most from Chaucer and others like him because from
a technical point of view it's extremely interesting and
inspirational."

These chapters and all the different styles, Chaucer's Canterbury
Tales
spring to mind.

“What is interesting for me it how he framed the narrator, because the
narrator, even in the Canterbury Tales or Troilus and Criseyde, he very
delicately places himself within the text. Which would be boring I think
for ordinary readers to describe, it's really a very technical
description.
But for a writer it's like a lesson, and if you learn it it enriches
you.”

You spent virtually the whole of the nineties in London, even though
you
were visiting the Czech Republic during this period, and you moved back
home finally in 1999. How was this transition for you between the two
cultures?

"The transition was very interesting and it lasted quite a while. I
don't think that I know England or Britain but I do know London, which is
a
kind of world within a world. If you a writer, if you are interested in
culture, London is one of the great centres in Europe. So obviously I
still
miss the exhibitions, the theatre and so on. But at the same time English
culture is very very different to Czech culture, which is much more
down-to-earth I think to a certain extent. And of course you cannot have
two things wider apart than Czech history and British history so the
cultural and historical traditions are incomparable. So, to a certain
extent I obviously miss London and to a certain extent I'm glad that I'm
back in Prague because I understand much better the surroundings and the
historical
context and these kind of things.

I'm fascinated to know that one of the jobs you did in London was as
a
postman. Did you enjoy the work?

"Well I didn't particularly enjoy it, but you need to get some money.
I don't know which, I think, Russian writer said this is your life's
university and being a postman was certainly one of those. I got to know a
bit of London but not too much because London is such a huge place I don't
think any one person can ever say that they know it. But it was a good
insight into the life of ordinary working class people which I enjoyed
very
much.”

And do you still like dogs?

Tomáš Zmeškal
"Being a postman I think that the English dogs didn't particularly
get influenced by the English national character and I suppose are just as
vicious as anywhere else."

I'm really pleased that because of this great delay in all of these
foolish publishers not publishing your book for five years, that you
already have a second novel finished as I think otherwise all the great
acclaim might have been inhibiting. Can you tell me something about the
book or at least when you hope it might be published?

“Well, since there were positive reviews about this book I probably have
to have a look once more at the other book I've written and decide whether
there would be any changes or whether I would leave it as it is. I don't
want to go into great detail about it as I still don't know how I'll
respond to it.”

But you certainly won't have any problem finding a publisher this
time.

“No, no, it seems that there won't be any difficulties.”

So now we only have to wait for the English translation. And I
hope this very great acclaim in the Czech Republic might reach the shores
of England and we can look forward to being able to read about this often
neglected period in Czech history. Thank you very much for talking about
your new book Tomáš and I'm delighted it's had such a positive
response.